Irina Kolesnikova may not have webbed feet, short legs and a large beak but, in every other respect, this exquisite, Russian, prima ballerina was the epitome of a beautiful white swan as she graced the massive Plenary stage of Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre for the opening of the St Petersburg Ballet’s Swan Lake.



For anyone who had never seen a white swan, this vision of Irina Kolesnikova emerging as Odette, the Swan Queen, would remain imprinted forever. Her every movement, from the languid entwining of her long, slender arms and expressive hands to the tremulous shaking in her legs, as she portrays her fear of the stranger and gradually transforms from swan to exquisitely beautiful woman, is hypnotic poetry in motion. It is that talent for interpretation that made Margot Fonteyn famous and it makes your heart leap to see it happen again, in spades, so many years later.



As the St Petersburg Ballet’s first Prima Ballerina in 2001 at only 21 years of age, Kolesnikova has now performed this dual role of Odette/Odile 500 times throughout the world. Seamlessly transitioning character to become the metamorphosed Black Swan, the symbol of impending doom, the elegant movements are still there and Kolesnikova's depiction of the conniving, brittle, Odile as the direct opposite of Odette is just as mesmerizing.



Akulinin is the perfect partner in their pas de deux but it is Kolesniova’s 32 effortless fouetté pirouettes, at whiplash speed, that leave the 2000 strong audience gasping. As a major show-stopper, this brilliant execution never ceases to amaze.